The invention relates to a system for equipment control, comprising a plurality of equipment and actuator units, and a common communication channel. The equipment and actuator units being provided with means for comprising a unit address.
Such a system can be used in a living or working environment to establish a flexible configuration for interactions between different pieces of equipment and actuators for controlling the equipment. In the framework of the present invention an equipment unit is any device present in a home, shop or other place that can be controlled according to messages on a communication channel. Examples of such equipment are lights, equipment for heating and air conditioning, video and audio apparatus, intruder alarm, application controller, and domestic appliances such as a washing machine or a coffee-maker. An actuator unit is any device that may send messages into the communication channel to switch or adjust an equipment unit in response to external changes. Actuator units comprise wall switches, sensors, timers and remote control units. In its simplest form, activation of an actuator unit will switch on or off an equipment unit.
A system according to the introductory paragraph is the BariBUS system commercialized by the company Merlin Gerin, Meylan, F-38240 France. A description of this system is given in the Article "BatiBUS: intelligentie via `twisted pair`.sqroot., in the magazine RB Elektronica, October 1991, p 38-40, published by `De Muiderkring BV`, Weesp, The Netherlands. In the BatiBUS system equipment and actuator units are linked to each other by assigning to them the same address. Such address has to be given by an operator by means of hardware switches on each individual equipment unit. The operator needs to take considerable care not to confuse addresses. A reconfiguration of the system needs a careful preparation in order to assign a unique address to each group of cooperating equipment and actuator units. As a unit can have only one address, and the logical connection between actuators and equipment is established via the address, it is not possible to link partially overlapping groups of equipment to different actuators. For example, it is not possible to switch two lights with a first actuator and to link a second actuator with only one of the two lights together with other pieces of equipment. A further disadvantage of this known system is that there must be prior knowledge in the system of the type of equipment and actuator units possible and the way they cooperate when linked together. The need for prior knowledge inhibits an easy extension of the system with pieces of equipment of a new type.